It is common for athletes with minor shoulder injuries to continue to participate in sports activities. A variety of devices and methods have been developed for managing shoulder injuries to reduce pain and minimize the risk of more serious injury.
It is common for athletes to use tape to immobilize or stabilize a joint, such as the shoulder, against further injury. However, proper taping of the shoulder injury generally requires an experienced trainer or doctor. Additionally, it is difficult for an athlete to self-tape certain injuries, especially shoulder injuries. Perhaps most importantly, tape tends to stretch over time. The initial taping of the injured shoulder places an undue restriction on mobility of the joint. Over a period of time, as the tape stretches and loosens, greater mobility is provided to the athlete at the expense of support to protect the injured shoulder. Finally, removing tape from an injury may be extremely painful to the athlete.
Another approach to stabilizing injured shoulder joints is the use of a removable shoulder brace, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,198 issued to Sawa. Removable shoulder braces are typically directed to preventing abduction of the shoulder joint. For example, elastic straps are wrapped around the upper arm of the athlete and attached to the chest portion of the shoulder brace so as to restrict abduction of the arm. By restricting abduction of the arm, some prior shoulder braces could not be used by certain athletes, such as football receivers, linebackers, and defensive backs. Additionally, overly restrictive shoulder braces have been impractical for basketball and baseball players.
Most prior shoulder braces have been designed for treating specific types of injuries, such as anterior dislocations. Consequently, it is difficult or impossible to use these devices to treat other shoulder injuries. Additionally, a number of these shoulder devices are constructed of materials which slide or slip on the athlete's skin so that it is difficult to control rotational forces on the injured shoulder joint.